Listing all quotes tagged history

Sunday, August 22nd 2010

“Y is for Year Zero: Grunge killed hair metal. Acid house changed everything. Punk saw off progressive rock. These dividing-line stories are always attractive, always useful for a while— and then always revised. The grandfather of them all, though, has proved harder to shift— the idea that something happened in the early-to-mid-fifties to mark a change of era and fix a boundary of relevance. The next 10 or 20 years, as the 60s slip deeper into unlived collective memory, will be crucial and fascinating (for historians, anyway!).”

— Current music criticism, from A to Z. I always had some trouble with the myth that pop music started with network television, somewhere in the 1950s, at the time of Elvis’ or Buddy Holly’s first appearences. (via The Null Device)

Saturday, October 17th 2009

“892: Sigurd the Mighty of Orkney strapped the head of a defeated foe to his leg, the tooth of which grazed against him as he rode his horse, causing the infection which killed him.”

— The Wikipedia’s List of unusual deaths, ranging from the funny and stupid to the appaling and gruesome. Some are all that. (via The Null Device)